"Yes your highness" One of the guards says smiling. I quickly turn and take the steps two at a time to reach the top. she is standing by a window looking outside. I sneak up behind her and scoop her up in my arms. she let out a small squeal. Laughing to myself I say "Are you ready my Emerald goddess".
Turning pink, she says "Sou are going to spoil me if you keep all this up" waving her arm around.
"Oh I plan on it my Princess, I plan to spoil you till my dying breath, so you might as well get use to it" I say kissing her on the forehead.
"It’s like I am living in a fairy tale. I have my very own prince that lives in a castle. Beautiful gowns and jewels, maids and guards. All we are missing is fairy’s and dragons" she says giggling.
She has not seen the rest of the kingdom yet. "well we may not have dragons and fairy’s, but we do have our share of odd creatures" I say.
Her eyes shoot open. "really?"
"Yes, and one day I will show them to you My love, after we save Aelmere". If we succeed in our mission to break the curse holding this land, I will show her everything this realm has to offer. Until then I need to keep her safe.
I set her down gently. Not wanting her to lose her balance, I keep ahold of her waist. "Are you ready to see the next place?" I ask her. she smiles and nods her head. taking her hand in mine I lead her to the castles library. "I think you will like this place better than the treasury" I say to her as we stand in front of a giant wooden door. She Smiles at me, touching the neckless I gave her. I put one hand over her eyes and push the door open. "no peaking" I say to her as I lead her to the middle of the library. "Ok now you can look" removing my hand from her eyes. I hear her gasp. putting her hands over her mouth she spins around slowly taking in the ceiling tall book shelfs two stories of them. There are books on every inch of every wall in here.
"This is amazing. I have never seen so many books in one place in my life" She says excitedly.
"You can ready any of them you like. There are books stored here dating back to the beginning of this realm". I say to her. running up to me she embraces me in a tight hug saying "This is wonderful, thank you for showing it to me".
I hug her back and tell her "It’s my pleasure my dear". when she lets go of me she walks over to book shelfs and starts looking at the books. Running her finger down the spines of them. She stops at a book after a few minutes and pulls it out.
"It’s about the goddesses and gods I think" she says bringing it over to me to look at. It was a leather bound book with a hand painted picture of some gods and goddesses on the cover. it was faded pretty bad but the book itself was still intact.
"It is" I say to her. I know what she is looking for here.
"I wonder if there is anything about my mom in it”. She says. It is just as I thought. I am pretty sure we have a book just on her mom.
"Look through it, I am going to look for another one for you ok my dear" I say to her. She nods and takes it over to a table by the window and sits down flipping through the old pages. I go to the second level and start looking for the book on Tarna. After a while of looking I finally find it, in one of the dusty corners of the rarely used library. A dusty red leather book with gold lettering 'Bohyne Tarna, Warrior of Aelmere'. I walk back down the stairs and head to the table where terra is sitting, just to find that she has fallen asleep with her head on the table. Poor thing is wore out. Gently, I pick her up, cradling her in my arms. Holding her and the books, I walk us to my chambers. When we get in there, I wake her enough to help get her gown off and jewelry. slipping a night dress on her, I help her in to the bed and cover her up. I change as well and climb in behind her. she reflexively rolls over and curls up to me. kissing her on the head I say in a quiet voice "I love you". Soon after, I succumb to sleep myself.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Thegan
After lying in bed for a while, tossing and turning. Not being able to sleep. I decide to take a walk through the castle. Maybe I will check in on Aiden and see how he is doing. He was looking really rough at supper.
I use to walk these halls a lot after our parents died. So many memories are tied to these halls. Some good, Some bad, But all mine. Oddly, I missed these stone passages. Their coldness, a constant reminder of my being alone in this realm. I have Enre, But Enre has Terra now. I am happy for him though. He deserves a woman to love. Maybe one day I will find my queen. The one that I am meant for. Until that happens I will be content with my life as it is.
I make my way down to the kitchen. pushing open the swinging doors, I notice Mrs. Anna and one of the maids Siting at a table. They stood and said "Your Highness” curtsying. Without saying anything to them I sit down in the spare seat.
Mrs. Anna asks "Is there something wrong your highness?" She has always been a good listener. When she wasn't trying to torture us when we were injured.
"I have a lot on my mind is all, Sleep is eluding me, So I thought I would take a walk and try and settle it" I say to her.
"Run off to bed Iani, I will take care of the rest" Anna said to the other girl in the room. As soon as Iani was through the doors she looked at me and says "Your lonely?" She was dead on as usual. I guess since she has known us for so long, she has picked up on our demeanor. I nod my head, knowing that lying to her would be a mistake. She was brutal with a shoe when she was mad. "That’s not all though, is it?" she asked. Of course that’s not all.
"I am worried Mrs. Anna, Worried that we will not be able to break the curse. I do not want to let my people down" I reply. That is my biggest fear.
"I understand that you are worried Thegan, but you cannot let it consume you so. You would not have returned here if you didn’t think you had a way to beat it, Right?" she was right. I wouldn’t have returned if I did not think we had a chance of succeeding.
"My brother and I believe that Terra is the key to saving Aelmere, she is the daughter of Bohyne Tarna the warrior" with a surprised look on her face. I tell her about the dream and what is needed to heal the tree.
"Is she powerful like her mother?" Anna asks. she is, if not more.
"She has four separate powers that we are aware of, they were locked away in her mind when she was small, But We had a Haruspex Unlock them back on earth". We really do not know if she has more or not, maybe that is something we need to look into.
"Four, Wow. That is unheard of. Even Bohyne Tarna only had one" she says.
"Her and Enre are also bonded, so they share powers as well, we really do not know how strong they are together yet". she gets up and grabs a couple of glasses down from the shelf and pours us both a glass of Wine.
Sitting back down she says "I believe that the goddesses are on your side, And I also believe that you all will succeed in your mission to save Aelmere. One more thing" she said laying her hand on mine. "You will find your queen one day, so until then be happy your highness. You have your health and your kingdom". I smile at her laying my other hand on top of hers.
"Thank you Mrs. Anna" I say to her.
"No need to thank me child, that is what I am here for" she replies with a wrinkly grin. "Now off to bed with you. You need your sleep" she says, motioning for the door.
Conceding, I stand up and say "Good night". She smiled and shooed me away. She has always been a constant in our lives. Always there to help us when we were injured or sad. She was there when Our parents died, to mend our broken hearts and there when we needed to talk. Rough as she is, she has always been like a member of our family.
Wanting to check on Aiden before I retire, I head to his room. Knocking on the door, I hear a soft "come in" Aiden is lying in bed, propped up on a bunch of pillows. He does look a little better. Some of his color has returned to his face.
"How are you feeling Aiden?" I ask him. He rolls his eyes a bit.
"Mrs. Anna came in here earlier, I have strict orders to stay in bed". I start laughing.
"Then you better listen to what she says, you don't want to know what happens if you don't, trust me". He laughs with me. "Get you some rest my friend, I just wanted to check on you" I say to him.
He looks at me and says “You need your rest to My Lord"
I nod my head at him and say "I am going to try, Good night Aiden".
"Good night My lord" Aiden says back. I exit the room and head back to my chambers. After climbing back in bed and covering up, I finally doze off.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Terra
Slowly opening my eyes, I can see small rays of light coming through the drapes. Morning already? oh no. Did I fall asleep in the library? The last thing I remember is looking through a book about all the different Gods and Goddess's. Enre must have carried me back to our room. I bet he gets tired of carrying me all the time. If I wasn’t so careless and falling asleep everywhere. I do not know why I am so tired here lately. Maybe it is just all of this excitement.
I roll over, looking to see Enre laying there but that is not what I see. There is a note where he should be laying. I pick it up and start to read it.
My Love,
I am sorry that I am not lying Beside you
Thegan needed my assistance. The maids will
be in shortly to help you dress. We are to go to town today, my princess has to look her best. I will be done soon and I will join you. Breakfast is on the table.
With Love,
Enre.
He is so sweet. I get up and throw a robe over my night dress. Heading over to the table where my breakfast is. I notice that there are two books on the dresser along with the silver brush and mirror I was admiring in the treasury. He must have had them brought up last night. I will have to thank him when he gets back. My stomach rumbles, signaling my need to eat. I giggle to myself and grab the books. After sitting down I look at the books. One is the book I was flipping through in the library and the other is... A book on my mom. That must have been what he went upstairs in the library to find. I run my hand over the cover, vowing to read it later. Right now I need to get some food in me. I don't want to get shaky later.
Pulling the silver lid off of my plate and setting it aside, I notice there are many things on this plate that I do not know. Many fruits that I have never seen. The eggs and meat, I do know, so I grab my fork and dig in. after I finish them off, I try some of the fruit. It is like an explosion of sweet flavor in my mouth. Some have a tart taste and some of them are sweet. Juicy, mouthwatering goodness. I can honestly say, I have never tasted anything like that in my life. I laugh out loud. Of course I hadn't, I had never been here.
With my belly full I lean back and reach for the book about my mom. Just as I am about to open it, there is a knock on the door. That must be the maids. "come in” I say. In walks the four women that came yesterday. One of them is carrying a beautiful royal blue gown and a small box. one of the other women was carrying a brush and some other items. the other two had small boxes in their hands.
"MY lady" they say in unison. The older one says "Are you ready to get dressed Your highness?" No not really I was thinking, but My husband will be waiting on me if I do not hurry, so I better get this over with. I am not use to people pawning over me. It's kind of a good thing though. not having to worry about my hair and there is no way I would be able to put these gowns on by myself. They are very intricate and have many buttons and ties.
When I stand up I get sick to my stomach and have to run to a bucket. The older woman puts the dress down on the bed and rushes over to me. "My lady, Are you alright?"
After I get done heaving I say to her "Yes, I believe I just ate too much, I am sorry you had to see that".
She hands me a wet cloth to wipe my mouth off and a cup of juice to rinse it out. "it is quite alright My Lady" she says with a small smile. Not saying anything else they help me into the blue gown. After everything is buttoned and tied, I sit in a chair as one of them brushes and braids my hair in an intricate pattern. Opening up a small box she pulls out a bunch of tiny glass flowers the same color as my dress. Tiny blue flowers with silver leaves. she places each one in my hair, all the way down my braid. One of the other ladies pulls a small Silver and sapphire tiara out and places it on my head and then adds a matching necklace and ring. "These are from Prince Enre My lady; they are the Colors of the Kingdom" The older one says.